New to TnM - Critique my plan / questions

[txbowman12]

Preparing for a Spring planting in a few weeks that will be primarily to build OM and get prepped for a healthy fall plot. Soil test results are due back any day now. Soil type is decent, sandy loam. Currently a cattle pasture. I've fenced out (3 strand e-fence) just under 2 acres. Call it 1.75. Area has a fair amount of good native habitat, but, like most texas properties in that area, has a lot of cattle on it. Good soil and 30+ inches of rain a year

Seed species are buckwheat (50 lbs), deer vetch (10lbs), alyce clover (10 lbs), and sunn hemp (10 lbs).

I sprayed and fenced last weekend, and planned to simply scatter seed and pack it in with a lawn roller. Along with appropriate fertilization (I think PH will be workable but will lime if called for).

Here is my issue. I don't have that tall standing thatch that most of the successful TnM plots I've seen on here have due to the cattle grazing. I could probably get a tractor out there to disc if it really came down to it, but the area has been pretty heavily pitted / clumped in certain areas over the years and would result in a lot of topsoil loss getting things smooth. I've considered a couple of options

1. Stick to the plan and throw and roll with a heavy lawn roller behind my utv
2. Use a drag harrow to rough up the dirt some and then roll (drag harrow would also handle the bumps better than a roller)
3. Buy something like the groundhog max or a different atv disc and use that to lightly disc and then roll.
4. Break up the dirt with a plug aerator before seeding

Learned a lot from reading through the threads on here. Thanks in advance for any advice / warnings!

 

[yoderjac]

I don't see spraying on your plan. I'm presuming the pasture has a lot of fescue. First thought is to look at the threads for getting rid of fescue. With sandy soil I'd stick to T&M. Light discing or a raised tiller for min-till can help break up surface crusting on clay but sand doesn't have that issue. Once you get rid of the fescue, and that might take a year, T&M should work better. If you have sandy soil and are in a moisture challenged climate, timing will be important.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I would till and try to plant a more diverse crop. Tilling isn’t the big bad wolf in your case. Till, establish a diverse mix, TNM moving foreword into perpetuity


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[Catscratch]

I've TnM'd in virgin pasture many times. Spray, spread seed, mow (or walk away without mowing). My lawn roller sits. It never helped germination in my experience.

Timing a good rain event is a make or break deal. Much more important than mowing or rolling in my opinion.

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[TreeDaddy]

^^^^^^^^^

timely rain covers many food plotting "sins"

bill

 

[Tree Spud]

Let existing field green up then spray with GLY. Wait 2 weeks to till. After you till you will uncover latent weed & grass seed so repeat # 1. Wait a week then broadcast seed.

A lawn roller may or may not help with seed to ground contact depending how level the ground is.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I think when it comes to packing seed, the most important factor is the weight of the "packer" A flat surfaced lawn roller applies much less ground pressure than an actual cultipacker with ridges.

 

[Tree Spud]

I think when it comes to packing seed, the most important factor is the weight of the "packer" A flat surfaced lawn roller applies much less ground pressure than an actual cultipacker with ridges.

Agree that a cultipacker is far more efficient. You also get small furrows which channel rain instead or potentially eroding across a flat surface.

 

[txbowman12]

Thanks for the responses. Very helpful. First spray was completed last weekend, so while I'm sure there will be another round, the initial one was completed. To be clear, soil is loamier than sandier, and we get plenty of rain most years.

Don't have a cultipacker and good ones are impossible to find for sale or rent near me or I would grab one.

Weather notwithstanding, I think I will rent a rototiller to smooth out the worst spots, and pick up an atv disc to lightly turn the rest of the field, then spray again. That's the easiest route forward logistically without having to arrange other people's schedules and equipment. Will wait on the rain before broadcasting

 

[Tree Spud]

Thanks for the responses. Very helpful. First spray was completed last weekend, so while I'm sure there will be another round, the initial one was completed. To be clear, soil is loamier than sandier, and we get plenty of rain most years.

Don't have a cultipacker and good ones are impossible to find for sale or rent near me or I would grab one.

Weather notwithstanding, I think I will rent a rototiller to smooth out the worst spots, and pick up an atv disc to lightly turn the rest of the field, then spray again. That's the easiest route forward logistically without having to arrange other people's schedules and equipment. Will wait on the rain before broadcasting

You may want to consider a 6' drag harrow. It will loosen up the top 1" or so of the soil and then to some extent smooth out the surface. You could then seed & run over again, then use your roller.

A tow behind drag harrow would be about $300.

 

[txbowman12]

You may want to consider a 6' drag harrow. It will loosen up the top 1" or so of the soil and then to some extent smooth out the surface. You could then seed & run over again, then use your roller.

A tow behind drag harrow would be about $300.

That's a great thought, would pair well with a spot tiller to smooth and drag the hog damage.

 

[txbowman12]

Quick update. Was able to broadcast, drag, and spray the day after a half an inch of rain (4/24). Drag harrow worked perfectly. Then the week after that I got 6" of rain. Getting what looks to be pretty good germination from the buckwheat. More rain in the forecast this week.

 

[jsasker007]

looking good!

 

[txbowman12]

Have had another 12” of rain since the last shot I posted. Had some minor flooding and some cows get in, but electric fence seems to be working again. Plot is exploding right now. Turns out this food plot thing is pretty easy! Just need 20” of rain the month after you plant and you’re good to go!

My next question is do I let that buckwheat reseed on its own or mow / roll and replant? Inclined to let it go as there is plenty of food out there for the deer and I would rather leave the mature buckwheat to reseed and keep the weeds down, but feel free to tell me I’m wrong. Just don’t want to plant another round in the teeth of summer here in tx

 

[TreeDaddy]

Thats gorgeous^^^^^^

I have not had success with TnM buckwheat

I (personally) would not mow that plot

bill

 

[yoderjac]

Buckwheat has food value for deer for 60 to 90 days. After that, it still provides seeds for turkey as well as bugging and cover for small game. Broadcast your fall crop into the standing buckwheat. Then either cultipack or mow the buckwheat so it is touching the ground. It will form a mulch for your fall crop and then decompose quickly releasing the nutrients it scavenged for your fall crop. How much of a volunteer crop you get may depend on your soil. Some folks with very fertile soils report a volunteer crop heavy enough to smother their fall plant. Those folks need to terminate the buckwheat before it goes to seed. Most of us don't have that problem. I do get some volunteer buckwheat in the fall. Because it is an annual, it comes up quickly and has lots of energy. Deer love they young plants in the fall. What deer don't eat will be killed at the first frost. It is cold sensitive. This makes room for my cool season planting . If your field is pretty clean, you don't need to spray. If you have lots of weeds in the buckwheat, you can spray when you do your fall plant.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[txbowman12]

Buckwheat has food value for deer for 60 to 90 days. After that, it still provides seeds for turkey as well as bugging and cover for small game. Broadcast your fall crop into the standing buckwheat. Then either cultipack or mow the buckwheat so it is touching the ground. It will form a mulch for your fall crop and then decompose quickly releasing the nutrients it scavenged for your fall crop. How much of a volunteer crop you get may depend on your soil. Some folks with very fertile soils report a volunteer crop heavy enough to smother their fall plant. Those folks need to terminate the buckwheat before it goes to seed. Most of us don't have that problem. I do get some volunteer buckwheat in the fall. Because it is an annual, it comes up quickly and has lots of energy. Deer love they young plants in the fall. What deer don't eat will be killed at the first frost. It is cold sensitive. This makes room for my cool season planting . If your field is pretty clean, you don't need to spray. If you have lots of weeds in the buckwheat, you can spray when you do your fall plant.

Thanks,

Jack

Makes sense - we have a good amount of Turkey out there (hopefully even more now after the spring hatch and trapping a dozen or so raccoons out of a very concentrated area!), so will leave well enough alone as I'm sure they will appreciate the bugs and the seed

 

[yoderjac]

Makes sense - we have a good amount of Turkey out there (hopefully even more now after the spring hatch and trapping a dozen or so raccoons out of a very concentrated area!), so will leave well enough alone as I'm sure they will appreciate the bugs and the seed

I find nothing keeps turkey on my land more than buckwheat during the summer. The seeds are sort of summer acorns to turkey.

 

[txbowman12]

Resurrecting this for a quick update. Unfortunately my efence shorted out and the cattle had a party in my buckwheat. Got a new setup (one that delivers way more shock), fertilized and limed again in the summer, and let everything grow so I could get some good thatch for a fall plot. We had a ton of rain this summer, and when I got out there at the end of August, I had chest / shoulder high goatweed and sticker grass all throughout. So much that I couldn't even walk to broadcast through most of it (didn't have access to a mower capable of handling this stuff).

I ran the drag around just so I could knock down the goatweed enough to be able to walk through with the broadcaster. I was able to get the brassica turnip mix and cereal rye out (even though I knew it was way too early for rye), and spray the hell out of the stuff growing. The other guys on the lease wrote off the whole thing, and frankly I wasn't super hopeful given the timing and my lack of equipment. Sure enough the rye didn't grow, but I had a really 25-30ft wide strip of brassica / turnip / rape blend growing in the middle of the field. The rest of the field was all dead thatch.

We had a big deer in that area, so I wasn't able to replant the rye before archery season. Opening weekend one of the guys stuck an arrow in him, and I found myself out there on the 2nd weekend of archery season with warm weather, 150 lbs of elbon rye, an electric broadcaster mounted to the front of my sxs, and rain in the sunday night forecast. I spent about an hour driving the field broadcasting the rye with my drag running teeth up behind me just to knock some down to the dirt. Pics below will show the progress through today. Deer are using it consistently, although they aren't hammering it yet (which is good) since we still have not had a freeze.

The three things I learned from the advice here that I took to heart and have helped me greatly.

1. Cereal rye and a little rain will make anyone look like they know what they are doing
2. Deer like ugly plots with edges. They love using the strips of goatweed I didn't get to as cover, the rye grows fine in it, and they stand in there feeling totally covered.
3. Plant in front of a rain.

First pic is three weeks of growth. Second is the turnips / brassica / radish, and the last is some young bucks browsing the transition line between the rye and the turnips / radishes

 

[Bill]

Very true. Pretty plots are strictly for us.